During the conference, with the participation of representatives from some of the most important Palestinian and international institutions active in Palestine in the field of cultural heritage preservation, particular relevance had the speeches by Arch. Osama Hamdan, collaborator of the Custody of the Holy Land and ATS pro Terra Sancta, Father Eugenio Alliata, professor in archaeology of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum and Mrs. Carla Benelli, responsible for the projects within the framework of Memory and Culture by ATS pro Terra Sancta.

The presence of many Christian mosaics (86%) is notable as against the Hebrew and Islamic ones. The majority of well preserved sites, which can be visited today, is owned and guarded by Christian churches, and they are some of the few instances which have always survived in the Holy Land in spite of the number of conflicts which have affected this area over the centuries.

The most fruitful period in terms of discoveries was the Jordan occupation, followed by the Israeli and English occupations. Unfortunately, the conservation activity carried out by the Palestinian Authority in the last few years has been very limited.

Father Eugenio Alliata introduced studies and research conducted on the famous Madaba mosaic from its discovery up to now. It reproduces the Holy Land map during the Byzantine period. The map shows the main roads, the major cities of that period and the main monuments. There are also places which are very small but relevant because of Bible references they were and are still connected to. The ruins of some of these places have been identified and brought to light in the last few years also thank to the Madaba map, very useful to identify the sites.

Mrs. Carla Benelli introduced and showed the exclusive images of a mosaic recently discovered in Sebastia during the project “Archaeology for Development” promoted by ATS pro Terra Sancta with the contribution of many Italian institutions. The mosaic has not been studied yet and is covered at the moment to protect it until the works of excavation and conservation in the nearby area have been concluded. The mosaic has geometrical decorations together with plants and animals. Most probably it dates back to the Byzantine period (download the presentation).

The cultural heritage is always a great opportunity for the Palestinian economy. It is also a great instrument to educate to what is beautiful and good. Plato says that “beautiful is the mirror of good” and his words were repeated by great Fathers of the church, saints and Christian theologians. We must work so that the Palestinian people – and the many pilgrims and tourists who visit this land – get to discover the heritage they own.

The artistic heritage can help Palestinians to bear the lack of freedom of movement they have been experiencing for too many years, which has a strong negative impact on the creativity of the people, particularly the young ones.

What is the Palestinian right of return, anyway?

Herman Cain fumbled over a question about the Palestinian right of return.

Asked by Fox's Chris Wallace where he stands on the matter -- one of the key "final status issues" if there is ever to be a two-state solution in Israel-Palestine -- Cain awkwardly fumbled, before saying that "it should be negotiated."

The next day, Cain admitted that he had no idea what "right of return" even meant, but, after beefing up on the issue, he had concluded that it was not a "right" at all and he shared the official Israeli view on the matter.

That got us thinking: How many other presidential candidates could define the right of return and explain its history? How many members of Congress? The public?

I spoke to Hussein Ibish, a senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine, to get answers on the basics of the right of return.

Who are the Palestinian refugees and how did they become refugees?

In approximately November of 1947, what was in effect a civil war broke out between the Jewish settler community and the Palestinians in Mandatory Palestine, which was still under British control. Between November 1947 and May 1948 there was a significant displacement of Palestinians. The first wave was largely Palestinians fleeing conflict zones with the expectation of return. After April 1948 the mainstream Jewish forces and some other militias went on the offensive, and then there were large-scale expulsions of Palestinians as well. In the conflict that followed -- with the withdrawal of the British, the declaration of the establishment of the state of Israel in May 1948, and the intervention of five Arab armies -- there were additional people who fled and additional people who were forcibly expelled. Some Israeli leaders who participated in forced expulsions, like the late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, wrote extensively about the experience. In his memoirs he discussed his role as the commander of the forces that expelled tens of thousands of Palestinians... Continue reading

DUBAI (AFP) – Suzanne al-Houby, a Palestinian who lives in the United Arab Emirates, has become the first woman to scale Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain, she said in a statement on Saturday.

"Becoming the first Arab woman to reach the top of the world was an enormous thrill and a great privilege," Houby said in the statement.

"I would like to share this triumph with the Palestinian people and all Arabs -- especially all the Arab women, young and old, who continue to contribute to the peace and stability of the region we all call home.

"I will never forget the moment when my dream became reality, when I saw the prayer flags flapping in the thin air, marking the summit of the greatest mountain on earth," she said.

Houby, 40, spent 51 days making the climb, which she completed on the morning of May 21, the statement said, adding that she spent two years preparing for her Everest attempt.

A Palestinian child holds a key representing that of her home which, it is claimed, was snatched from her family during the creation of the state of Israel at the Rafah border terminal between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip. Egypt has reopened the controversial border with the Gaza Strip, allowing people to cross freely for the first time in four years, an AFP correspondent reported.(AFP/File/Said Khatib)

A crow is seen on top of a section of the controversial Israeli barrier next to the Shuafat refugee camp in the West Bank near Jerusalem May 25, 2011. Palestinians and Israelis alike saw little prospect of a fresh start to Middle East peace talks on Wednesday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's keynote speech to Congress.REUTERS/Baz Ratner (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS)

Lebanese and Palestinians carry boards and candles during a candlelight vigil in front of the U.N. headquarters in Beirut, May 25, 2011, in remembrance of the Palestinians protesters killed in the Lebanese border village of Maroun al-Ras on May 15, 2011. The board shows the name dead protesters, the refugee camp they lived in, and the Palestinian town they were originally from.REUTERS/ Mohamed Azakir (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST OBITUARY)

People walk past a board decorated with roses and candles during a candlelight vigil in front of the U.N. headquarters in Beirut, May 25, 2011, in remembrance of the Palestinians protesters killed in the Lebanese border village of Maroun al-Ras on May 15, 2011. The Lebanese army said Israeli soldiers fired at the demonstration, killing 10 protesters, while Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Lebanese soldiers had laid down "deterrent fire" in response to "violent rioting" by demonstrators who intended to breach Israel's border fence. The board shows the name a dead protester, the refugee camp he lived in, and the Palestinian town he was originally from.REUTERS/ Mohamed Azakir (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST OBITUARY)

A Palestinian child places a candle in front of a board during a candlelight vigil in front of the U.N. headquarters in Beirut, May 25, 2011, in remembrance of the Palestinians protesters killed in the Lebanese border village of Maroun al-Ras on May 15, 2011. The board shows the name a dead protester, the refugee camp he lived in, and the Palestinian town he was originally from.REUTERS/ Mohamed Azakir (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST OBITUARY)

Palestinian farmer Muhamed Zaben harvests wheat in his field in the West Bank village of Burin near Nablus May 26, 2011.REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini (WEST BANK - Tags: AGRICULTURE FOOD IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Palestinian farmer Muhamed Zaben harvests wheat in his field in the West Bank village of Burin near Nablus May 26, 2011.REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini (WEST BANK - Tags: AGRICULTURE FOOD)

Thursday, May 26, 2011

“This is the first Pan-Arabian exhibition to take place in Venice and the biggest European show of contemporary art of Arab origin,” Lina Lazaar, the curator of the show, said in an interview from London.Courtesy of Anthony Reynolds Gallery, London and Alexander and Bonin, New York

Emily Jacir, a Palestinian artist, will be showing an installation in the form of a closed-circuit conveyor belt going endlessly in circles.

Echoes of Political Unrest at Venice Biennale

By NAZANIN LANKARANI

Published: May 25, 2011

VENICE — At the 54th edition of the Venice Biennale, opening on June 4, the high-profile participation of Middle Eastern countries is sure to give the popular art exhibition a distinctly political flavor.

The title this year, “Illuminations,” should resonate with participating Middle Eastern countries, especially those that have recently witnessed violence and unrest in their quest for a new national identity.... READ MORE

"The president said the two nations themselves are special in the world in being nations bound together by ideals of freedom and diversity, not by ethnicity or race, and it gives hope to other nations that former colonies and former enemies can come together."

But as the years go by it becomes more and more obvious that America and Israel have been on two very different trajectories: We dismantled Jim Crow type laws and institutionalized bigotry whereas Israel has been foolishly investing in such backward thinking.

Modern times call for more enlightened practices... "The time is always right to do the right thing" — Martin Luther King Jr.

Israel and Palestine can and should live side by side in a cooperative two state sovereign and secure peace, with the rule of fair and just laws shaping a better future for all men, women and children- regardless of supposed race or religion. A FULLY secular two state solution to once and for all end the Israel/Palestine conflict depends on understanding and fully respecting universal basic human rights, including but not limited to the Palestinian refugees very real right to return to original homes and lands.

Annie's New Letters (& notes)"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world." Eleanor Roosevelt

" For more than three decades, Israel’s occupation of Arab land has been the key unresolved issue. Stated simply, Israel must give up the occupied land in exchange for peace. There has never been any question regarding the occupied territory in international law as expressed through United Nations resolutions, the official policies of the United States, nor those of the International Quartet (the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia)." Jimmy Carter

Netanyahu's speech was not a vision for Mideast peace- it was a call to continue on with the destruction of Palestine. Shame on our Congress for applauding.

Sincerely,Anne Selden Annab

"The ultimate goal of a two-state solution, however, must be not only two states for two peoples but also two states that will each embody an expression of their respective people’s national and historical narratives, two stories that will coexist without one needing to negate the other." Hussein Ibish: Two Narratives for Two Peoples

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world." Eleanor Roosevelt

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave an impassioned defense of his approach to peace during a speech to Congress on Tuesday. But the address reflected the world view of Israel's nationalistic right wing, one of several conflicting narratives that divide Israelis and Palestinians.

Here is a sampling of Netanyahu's claims along with what he did not mention.

___

NETANYAHU: "You don't need to send American troops to Israel. We defend ourselves."

THE FACTS: Israel is a leading recipient of American foreign aid, including more than $1 billion in military assistance each year.

___

NETANYAHU: "In Judea and Samaria, the Jewish people are not foreign occupiers. We are not the British in India. We are not the Belgians in the Congo."

THE FACTS: While the West Bank, or Judea and Samaria, is promised to the Jewish people in the Bible, the international community considers the West Bank occupied territory. Israel captured the area in the 1967 Mideast war but has never annexed it. Its occupied status is underscored by the presence of tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers who protect Israeli settlements and control the movement of Palestinian residents in the name of security.

THE FACTS: Israel does give its Arab minority full civil rights, including participation in elections. But Israeli Arabs suffer from systematic discrimination in housing and the workplace. Also, more than 2 million Palestinians living in the West Bank do not have Israeli citizenship and therefore cannot vote in Israeli elections.

___

NETANYAHU: "The vast majority of the 650,000 Israelis who live beyond the 1967 lines reside in neighborhoods and suburbs of Jerusalem and greater Tel Aviv."

THE FACTS: Nearly all of these communities were built in the face of overwhelming international opposition and are considered illegal settlements by the world, including the U.S. There are 300,000 Israelis living in the West Bank and 200,000 in east Jerusalem, making a total of 500,000....READ MORE

Nathalie Handalis an award-winning poet, playwright, and writer. She is the author of two previous poetry collections: The NeverField and The Lives of Rain. Handal is the editor of The Poetry of Arab Women: A Contemporary Anthology, winner of the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award, and coeditor of Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia & Beyond. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies and publications, including Ploughshares, Crab Orchard Review, and the Literary Review. She was named an honored finalist for the 2009 Gift of Freedom Award.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators, holding painted panels, protest outside of the Washington Convention Center in Washington, where the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is having its annual meeting Sunday, May 22, 2011. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Copies of the Al Quds newspaper are displayed in an alley inside Jerusalem's Old City, Monday, May 23, 2011. U.S.-Israel tension over Barack Obama's endorsement of Israel's pre-1967 borders is obscuring a flip side of the Middle East coin: The past days' speeches by the U.S. president contained difficult challenges for the Palestinians as well. Headline reads: 'Al Quds. According to June 4 1967 lines with territory swaps. Obama: Borders of the Palestinian state have to take demographic change into consideration. US President warned Israel about postponing a settlement in the conflict with Arab countries.' (AP Photos/Bernat Armangue)

Palestinian labourers work at a construction site in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Modiin Illit May 23, 2011. REUTERS/Nir Elias (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS CONSTRUCTION)

An Israeli soldier watches Palestinian refugees crossing the war-wretched Allenby Bridge to reach the east bank of Jordan in 1967. The June 1967 war was a stunning military victory for Israel, but the start of a political stalemate that continues to this day.(AFP/File)

A Palestinian leans on a donkey as he herds camels on a hill near the West Bank Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim, seen in background May 24, 2011, close to where settlers plan to build a new outpost in reaction to a call from U.S. President Barack Obama in a speech last week for Israel to withdraw to borders from before a 1967 Middle East war as a basis for a peace deal with the Palestinians.REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS ANIMALS)

A Palestinian man walks along Israel's separation barrier, in the West Bank town of Aram, as a taxi drives in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, Tuesday, May 24, 2011. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to sketch his vision of Israeli-Palestinian peace before a sympathetic U.S. Congress on Tuesday, after reopening a dispute with President Barack Obama over the contours of a future Palestinian state. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Israeli soldiers stand guard as Palestinian youths wait to cross to Israel, at the Azun checkpoint near the West Bank Jewish settlement of Elkana, near Nablus, Tuesday, May 24, 2011. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to sketch his vision of Israeli-Palestinian peace before a sympathetic U.S. Congress on Tuesday, after reopening a dispute with President Barack Obama over the contours of a future Palestinian state. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Palestinian workers wait in line to cross back after working in Israel, at the Azun checkpoint near the West Bank Jewish settlement of Elkana, near Nablus, Tuesday, May 24, 2011. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to sketch his vision of Israeli-Palestinian peace before a sympathetic U.S. Congress on Tuesday, after reopening a dispute with President Barack Obama over the contours of a future Palestinian state. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A Palestinian family herd sheep near the settlement of Maaleh Adumim, background, in the West Bank, Tuesday, May 24, 2011. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

A Palestinian man pauses next to Israel's separation barrier as animal cages are seen in the foreground in the West Bank town of Aram, near Ramallah, Tuesday, May 24, 2011. In Tuesday's speech to the U.S. Congress, Netanyahu said Israel wants to keep key parts of the territories it captured in the 1967 Mideast war, including all of east Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

A view of east Jerusalem's Mount of Olives cemetery, foreground, with the golden Dome of the Rock Mosque at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, known by the Jews as the Temple Mount, seen in the background at the Old City, Tuesday, May 24, 2011. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

President Barack Obama’s Middle East speech last Thursday did not break any particularly new ground on Israeli-Palestinian peace or Washington’s basic positions on negotiations. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and many of his supporters reacted furiously. Why? The reasons are deeply illuminating... READ MORE

Monday, May 23, 2011

"For those who consider themselves reasonable, but nevertheless find themselves partially sympathetic to the attitude of Ikhras, let me say this: there are a thousand approaches to advocacy, and we don’t have to agree with them all. Some of us prefer congressional advocacy, some of us like mass demonstrations, some prefer to write Op-Eds and letters to the editor, and some think BDS is more effective. Some of us prefer the principled stance that the US should end military aid to Israel until the latter abides by international law and respects the rights of the Palestinian people, while others prefer to advocate for what they see as more pragmatic and achievable goals like an even-handed diplomatic approach coupled with more moderate pressures.

The DC-based political advocacy approach requires one to play by specific rules, and they include constraints and considerations that people doing grassroots advocacy don’t have to bother with (maintaining relationships with various governments and government officials and using language and talking points that are suitable for that sphere). Whatever you think of the Washington game, it is what it is. Our political opponents who are so effective in Washington also play the game, and exceptionally well. If you don’t like the game, then find ways to limit the time you devote to it, or don’t play it at all. But don’t waste valuable energy denouncing those who choose to play it because they see the value in giving our community a voice in Washington." Omar Baddar

ATFP expresses its support for President Obama’s call for the establishment of two states, Palestine and Israel with borders based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed upon swaps. ATFP has always advocated a negotiated two-state solution as an American national interest.

ATFP urges Members of Congress and all Americans to work intensively with the President to achieve this goal. ATFP also calls upon the Palestinians and Israelis to engage with the President in reaching peace for the benefit of their peoples and the region.

AMMAN, May 22 (KUNA) -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas stressed Sunday that Israel must accept Palestinian refugees' right to return and get compensation for their displacement.

In a press conference following a meeting with Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf Al-Bakhit, Abbas added that Israel should recognize East Jerusalem as a part of the Arab occupied territories.

The Palestinian leader also noted that Hamas is part of the Palestinian people and practicing opposition according to the democratic rules.

Abbas, however, said peace negotiations would be handled to the new unity government. The Palestinian President also expressed gratitude for Jordanian King Abdullah II for his support to Palestinians and their cause.

For his part, Jordanian Premier underscored that the refugees' right to return and the recognition of East Jerusalem as a capital for the future Palestinian state are the most important issues that have to be included in any peace deal.

"Meanwhile, the “hostile environment” question may be cutting in two directions. Hasnain Nazar, a politics major completing his last year at UCSC, and president of the UCSC Muslim Students Association, told the Forward that he feels “basically scared.” Teachers are increasingly shying away from classroom discussions of Middle Eastern issues, in his experience, because they might lead to controversy. He rarely attends political events anymore because “I want to have an academic career,” he said. “I don’t want to be labeled a ‘terrorist’ because I attended some event.”"

Recruiting radicalsand religious idiotsthe Israel/Palestine conflict rages on and onuntil no one reasonableand no one wiseand no one kindno one saneis willing tobother... Outsiders take overand insiders are exiledalienated- disenfranchisedor disappearedand destroyed ... silencedso that the Israel/Palestine conflict can continueraging on until Palestine isn't.

"The fate of Palestinian refugees is one of the most emotional and explosive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians either fled or were expelled during the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948. Today, the surviving refugees, with their descendants, number several million people.

The Palestinians claim they have the right to return to their family's lost properties. Israel rejects the principle, saying it would mean the end of the country as a Jewish democracy. Israeli leaders say the refugees should be entitled to compensation and resettled in a future Palestine to be established next to Israel, or absorbed where they now live.

In his speech last Thursday, Obama did not explicitly mention the refugees. But by saying a final peace deal must recognize "Israel as a Jewish state and the homeland for the Jewish people," he appeared to back the Israeli position.

The issue is so central to Palestinian policy and society that no Palestinian leader can be seen as abandoning the rights of the refugees, particularly at a time when peace efforts are at a standstill and so many other difficult issues, such as borders and the final status of Jerusalem, remain unresolved.

Nabil Shaath, a senior Palestinian official, said recognition of Israel as a Jewish state would sell out not only the refugees, but potentially open the door to Israel expelling its roughly 1.5 million Arab citizens as well. This idea has never been seriously raised in Israel.

He said the Palestinian recognition of Israel's right to exist, without any reference to national character, should be sufficient.

"We recognize Israel as a state," he said. "It's a recognition of a state to a state."

Civic Education

Civic education, whenever and however undertaken, prepares people of a country, especially the young, to carry out their roles as citizens. Civic education is, therefore, political education or, as Amy Gutmann describes it, “the cultivation of the virtues, knowledge, and skills necessary for political participation” (1987, 287). Of course, in some regimes political participation and therefore civic education can be limited or even negligible. Though commonly associated with schooling, civic education is not the exclusive domain of schools....READ MORE

National Alliance for Civic Education, an alliance of over 200 groups and individuals committed to advancing civic knowledge and engagement and to helping citizens better understand the role and value of civic education.

Public Achievement, a civic engagement initiative that seeks to involve the young in learning lessons of democracy by doing public work.

A Palestinian refugee plays in front of homes rebuilt by UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, which were destroyed in fighting in 2007, in Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp, northern Lebanon, in this April 19, 2011 file photo. The border protests on May 15, 2011, in which Israeli gunfire killed at least 13 people, were a reminder that the plight of 4.5 million Palestinian refugees, often ignored in interim peace deals, lies at the core of an Arab conflict with Israel that has reverberated across the Middle East and beyond for decades. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim